2nd Annual Mississippi State Parks

On The Air

Note: this is not an official POTA event.

Purpose

• To promote public awareness of Amateur radio and Mississippi’s State Park system.
• To promote a spirit of friendship and goodwill within the ranks of Mississippi Amateur Radio Operators and Amateur Radio clubs.
• To encourage contact with other Amateur Radio Operators around the state, country, and world.
• To provide additional field operating experience for Mississippi’s Amateur Radio Operators.

Overview

As of this writing, there at least 133 reference entities in the POTA database. Not all of them are parks. Only those with “Park” in the name will be used for MSPOTA.

There are twenty-one (21) State Parks in Mississippi, and we need to have most, if not all, of those 21 state parks activated by as many amateur radio operators as possible on the day of the event. This will entail the efforts and cooperation of multiple Mississippi clubs.

Except where noted in this document, POTA rules will apply. See https://pota.app/ for more details. All MSPOTA activators will operate as if they were activating a State Park for POTA. Co-activating is allowed. When activators mail their adi file to the certificate coordinator, please include the co-activators call signs, if applicable.

As in POTA the guidelines, all rules and regulations of the MS State Parks, will be followed. Fees need to be paid where they are required. If you use Pavilions then those need to be reserved and paid for.

Thank you’s go to the Jackson County Amateur Radio club, and the Area 51 Radio group for their fine cooperation, in making this happen for our State.  Special thanks to all the Activators for the State Parks from whatever club or organization they come from, and of course, without all the hunters, this would not be an event!

Objectives

• To activate most, if not all, the 21 state parks in Mississippi
• To get as many activators as possible to activate in the field
• To get as many contacts as possible during the event

Dates

Statewide MS POTA event date: April 12, 2025: 1300 UTC to 2259 UTC (8 am – 5:59 pm CDT local time). Rain date will be on April 26, 2025, same times.

Modes and Bands

Modes of Operation: SSB, CW and FT8/4 or any other legal mode.

Amateur Radio Bands: Any Ham Radio band that is legal in POTA can be used. Also, 2m and 70cm – VHF/UHF Simplex is acceptable.

Stations may be worked once on each band, mode, and by activator.

Hunters

To receive a certificate by email, your email must be correct in the QRZ database. Please read the document below for further details.

Activators

Activator Details are in this document: MS_StateParks_OnTheAir

Park List

This is the Park list for the MS State Parks on the Air.

This list will be updated regularly with activator callsigns who will be assigned.

Activators wishing to activate a certain park, and want to be on this list, please email ms.parksontheair@gmail.com to state your preferences. We will also be monitoring the Facebook groups: Jackson County Mississippi Amateur Radio Association, and Area 51 Radio Group Mississippi

Please state which park, your callsign, and if you are doing AM or PM (or both).

More details are in this document: MS_StateParks_OnTheAir